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Sunday, September 23, 2012

ROUGHRIDERS 30 STAMPEDERS 25

The Saskatchewan Roughriders' middle linebacker made five defensive tackles and a game-changing interception for the Saskatchewan Roughriders in a 30-25 win Sunday over the Calgary Stampeders.

He was also a key cog in a defensive scheme that held Calgary tailback Jon Cornish, the CFL's leading rusher, to 67 yards rushing as Saskatchewan (6-6) ended a four-game winning streak for second-place Calgary (7-5).

Roughriders head coach Corey Chamblin pledged earlier in the week to make personnel changes if Cornish ran for over 100 yards against Saskatchewan.

"Joe is one of the guys that if you were in a dark alley and you saw Joe you'd better run,'' said Chamblin. "He's tough. Joe is a tough-minded individual. You could see it in his eyes every day that all he wants to do is win.

"He was pissed because there was one where Cornish ran through the gap and he missed him and I could see it in his eyes that he was pissed.''

But Lobendahn never lost focus.

With the game tied 13-13 in the third quarter, the five-year CFL veteran picked off Calgary quarterback Kevin Glenn on a short pass over the middle and returned the ball 16 yards deep into Stamps territory.

The play seemed to energize his teammates and helped set up a touchdown pass two plays later from Darian Durant to Weston Dressler. Saskatchewan never trailed from that point on.

"I want to be there making the play,'' said Lobendahn, who was released by Calgary out of training camp in June. "Sometimes I try to do too much ... but the thing is I've got to be patient. The play will come, and when it does, I've got to make the play.''

The Stampeders (7-5) responded with a pair of two-and-outs. The second one led to another Roughriders score.

Calgary made it 27-25 in the fourth, scoring a field goal, touchdown, two-point conversion and a kickoff single, but turned the ball over on downs with barely a minute to play. Riders kicker Sandro DeAngelis capped a perfect day with his third field goal of the game from 37 yards.

Durant completed 22-of-35 passes for 264 yards in the game.

"We just have to take advantage of the opportunities that they give us in the pass game,'' said Durant, who returned after missing most of the last two games with a hip injury. "They blitz a lot so when they blitz we have to make them pay and we did on a couple of occasions.''

The Roughriders didn't make life easy on themselves in the early going.

Chris Getzlaf fumbled on the first play of the game, and Calgary capitalized with a 33-yard field goal from Rene Paredes.

Saskatchewan's next possession ended in a Drew Willy touchdown run, but not before tailback Jock Sanders had to recover his own fumble in Calgary territory.

The Riders ended the first quarter with a turnover on downs after a botched fake punt, and paid for the mistake six plays later when Marquay McDaniel made a leaping catch in the end zone to put Calgary up 10-7.

DeAngelis kicked a 38-yard field goal to send the game to halftime tied 10-10, and added another in the third quarter from 22 yards out.

Paredes finished 3 for 4 on field-goal attempts, also connecting from 37 and 44 yards while missing from 45.

"We played a football team that played very well,'' said Calgary head coach John Hufnagel. "We knew they would come out and give us their best shot, which they did.

"We didn't play very well collectively and I'm not taking anything away from Saskatchewan, because they did.''

Up by 14 points in the 4th quarter and everybody is on pins and needles because you know Richie is going to call a 'scared defence' and the other guys will shread it. How long do we have to put up with that man?

Good win by the Riders and good to stick it up Cornish's (bare) a$$. Seriously the league needs to look at his mooning the east side fans. Total bare-assing. It's bush and makes the CFL look like a rec league.

cornDOG proved what a CLASSLESS act cowtown truly is!showing off his best feature to eastside fans is just DESPICABLE!! huffer leads this team,its no wonder their poor success rate in the playoffs,albeit 1 lucky year(08) when they didnt have 2 play the riders!!!shameful cowtown...SHAMEFUL!!!!

Taj Smith will get better. Yes he dropped a couple of balls but he is a rookie. He made some monster blocks for his fellow receivers and was outstanding playing on special teams. Did you notice the whole team practically came out when he scored his TD. This kid plays his guts out. His team mates know. Kudos to Durant for going back to him!

So how come all you "experts" did not get that Chamblin knows exactly how to push Jon Cornish's buttons and cornish's classless actions are a clear indication that CC did a masterful job to get him off his game! great team effort today and although the last minutes were a little tense, I think the D did an admirable job in the last 5 minutes when we had so many injuries to the starters...Hawkins, Shologen and Williams gone off the line, yet Willis took the challenge....Awesome! I hope none of the injuried are serious.

Great game boys! Enjoy it for 24 hours, and then get ready for BC. And to the guy that is bashing Smith. He has been great so just knock it off. My only complaint is against Getzlaf. Learn to catch, and when you do. Don't put the ball on the ground!

Someone should point out to the OC that when you try a trick play one should have others in the backfield to confuse the D. Sucessful trick plays look like ordinary plays but surprise the other D. Jeez there is no surprise when there is only one remaining back who is left to get the ball.Same thing when there is an empty backfield on a plunge. Sorry but I don't understand the thinking.

Hey, gotta give props to Darian for a good game and a win. Didn't get sacked and lose yards and made some nice throws today. Also nice to see Jackson back giving us some nice returns and what can you say about Dressler, always giving a 100%. Joe Lobendahn is looking better every game. And Coach Craig finally beats his brother Dave.

That was a Calvillo like game for Durant. Rarely moved out of the pocket. And very crisp and accurate while injured as well thats like the mos promising game by darian in a long time. Where are the Durant haters?

I believe Taj could be a break out wide out, with his size and speed, and if he can learn to catch all passes he'll be good! I noticed aswell the team coming out to support taj after that td, Props to DD for going back to him and a great game in genereal!

Dressler- Unbelievable!Where are the Durant haters now? and the Taman haters? Lobendahn is a beast!!

Jon Cornish will not get fined unless someone who saw the MOONING has visual evidence with a pic or vid that it actually happened. Failing that, I strongly suggest all the fans who saw it band together and contact the media. Power in numbers may make up for the lack of visual evidence.